Summer vacation ended about twelve hours ago, thus negating the the original reason for maintaining this blog but we'll see how it all plays out anyway. My first official day back was... so many words to choose from: Lackluster? Maybe. Uneventful? Yes. Mundane? Not really. Routine? There it is. After eighteen years of celebrating the first day back, there is a definite sense of routine to it all. There wasn't any real excitement, or romance, or any anticipation of the as yet undiscovered and unexperienced. Mainly, I think, because I've done this enough times that the thrill is simply gone. I didn't even really give in to the admittedly anal impulse of writing out a list of everything that needed to be done before open house, because at this stage in the game I really think I could put my classroom together half-awake.
And somehow all of this got me thinking about the theater that goes hand in hand with teaching. I had a moment where I was a bit concerned, projecting ahead to the first day, seeing the students show up ready to see their friends, sporting the new shoes and haircuts and school supplies, more ready to get back to the routine of the school day than they will ever let on. And then there's me, standing in the front, feeling very blasé about it all. And God knows I can't do that, which is where the theater comes in.
That title for today, about the sumo and the ham sandwich? That came from a line on "The West Wing," probably my favorite TV show of all time and one that I'm currently rewatching on DVD. I see some comparisons between the kind of activity that charges through the way President Bartlet's White House was depicted and the way running an elementary school works out behind the scenes. Four thousand things going on at once, decisions about things that really should be carefully thought through made on the fly simply because they have to be, and more human drama than anyone can stomach in a day. I remember an episode on the DVDs not long ago when Pres. Bartlet was talking to some little kids before some holiday ceremony when one of his staffers pulled him aside to tell him that a hospitalized hate-crime victim had just died, and he had to take in the news then turn on a dime and go back to being silly and goofy for the kids. I had an experience like that once, when my principal interrupted my class to pull me into the hallway and tell me that a former student who was in high school at that time had been found dead as a result of an accidental drug overdose. And after we talked for a minute about it, I had to put on my happy teacher face and go back in and pretend like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, because the most important thing I had to deal with in that moment was making sure that I got the idea of the lesson across for the kids in my room right then.
And that's where the theater come into play. I've never been in a play myself; my theater experience has been limited to the one play I wrote and taking a few bows for it onstage at the community theater. But knowing how important it is for me to be inspiring even when I don't feel inspired myself, and knowing that I can pull that off with a practiced touch? I'm thinking this isn't all that separated from acting.
Luckily I also know from experience that given enough time in the setting, the inspiration won't be forced anymore. It might be routine for a week or two, but it'll click.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Livin' on a Prayer No More
Today has been a good day, to the point where I've spent the last twenty minutes browsing through iTunes trying to find the song appropriately triumphant enough to match the current events. For the moment this search has brought us to what I guess can be today's album of the day, "Stay Positive" by The Hold Steady. Even though they aren't technically a Twin Cities band they might as well be since lyrically they're surely based here. Members of the band originally came from the Cities, and playing through the songs on this album and all of their others is kind of a scavenger hunt for anyone who knows the area since there are so many references being made. But this is all beside the point for now. Today I'm playing it just because it's an album of loud, hooky, guitar-driven, sing-along party songs, most about drinking or other forms of self-destruction, but we'll overlook that for the time being and just enjoy the music.
Today was really my first day back to school. This isn't a great victory-lap kind of thing, and in fact after 18 years worth of first-days-back the shine has pretty much worn off. But it was a great first day back because of my morning crew: Nephew #1 and his two wingmen from the Relay for Life (if you want to roll back a month to that post) came to school with me and more or less did the back-to-school jobs that I hate the most: inflating my stability ball chairs, unpacking my text books, sharpening my spare pencils for the inevitably forgetful students who won't have pencils when they need them, and putting up the background paper for my bulletin boards. Stuff that would have taken me at least two days and a good part of the morning on the first day of school was done in two hours. After we finished the To-Do list, I took the fellas to the lunch buffet at Broadway Bar and Pizza, which they had prepared for by skipping breakfast to make sure they'd be unusually hungry for lunch. As we were walking into the restaurant, Nephew #1 turned to one of the other guys and said, "Let's make them regret this." Meaning making the good people of Broadway Bar and Pizza regret ever coming up with the concept of a lunch buffet. They surely put a dent in it, with something like 35-40 (admittedly small) pieces of pizza eaten, to say nothing of the pasta, sandwiches, salads, cinnamon puffs, Cherry Pepsi and pink lemonade they polished off. It was an epic amount of food, and I gotta say they earned it. My first official week back will be all the easier now.
But the great news of the day? Very big. I won't be going into great detail about it, but I will say that a friend scored a professional breakthrough today that he's been hoping to see happen for awhile now. Not only does this make a big difference on the career track, but it also brings in some sorely needed income, and will go a long way in resolving some of the everyday stress that life can provide. I'm very happy about this.
And if all of that wasn't enough, it's Eviction Night on Big Brother 11!! I can't wait to see which "houseguest" makes a complete fool of himself or herself tonight. Or maybe I should make that plural... there is rarely only one person traveling down that road on this show....
Today was really my first day back to school. This isn't a great victory-lap kind of thing, and in fact after 18 years worth of first-days-back the shine has pretty much worn off. But it was a great first day back because of my morning crew: Nephew #1 and his two wingmen from the Relay for Life (if you want to roll back a month to that post) came to school with me and more or less did the back-to-school jobs that I hate the most: inflating my stability ball chairs, unpacking my text books, sharpening my spare pencils for the inevitably forgetful students who won't have pencils when they need them, and putting up the background paper for my bulletin boards. Stuff that would have taken me at least two days and a good part of the morning on the first day of school was done in two hours. After we finished the To-Do list, I took the fellas to the lunch buffet at Broadway Bar and Pizza, which they had prepared for by skipping breakfast to make sure they'd be unusually hungry for lunch. As we were walking into the restaurant, Nephew #1 turned to one of the other guys and said, "Let's make them regret this." Meaning making the good people of Broadway Bar and Pizza regret ever coming up with the concept of a lunch buffet. They surely put a dent in it, with something like 35-40 (admittedly small) pieces of pizza eaten, to say nothing of the pasta, sandwiches, salads, cinnamon puffs, Cherry Pepsi and pink lemonade they polished off. It was an epic amount of food, and I gotta say they earned it. My first official week back will be all the easier now.
But the great news of the day? Very big. I won't be going into great detail about it, but I will say that a friend scored a professional breakthrough today that he's been hoping to see happen for awhile now. Not only does this make a big difference on the career track, but it also brings in some sorely needed income, and will go a long way in resolving some of the everyday stress that life can provide. I'm very happy about this.
And if all of that wasn't enough, it's Eviction Night on Big Brother 11!! I can't wait to see which "houseguest" makes a complete fool of himself or herself tonight. Or maybe I should make that plural... there is rarely only one person traveling down that road on this show....
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Count of Tuscany
The title to this posting won't make much sense to most people, but it was the only title that fit. FYI, "The Count of Tuscany" is a Dream Theater song. It's just shy of 20 minutes long, and the lyrics could best be described as something like an Edgar Allan Poe short story. Since the song is so long and has different musical movements to it, it's dark, intense, and beautiful all at the same time. Imagine the feeling of seeing dramatic thunderclouds on the horizon. You can stand there somewhat mesmerized by their ferocious beauty, but you also feel a sense of the ominous since you know that sooner or later those clouds are going to be beating down the world around you and there's nothing you can do about it.
I'm not feeling self-indulgent or depressed or even morose today, but I feel a sense of the ominous. It's been an unusual week. A good friend of mine saw her husband die after a prolonged illness. Another friend of mine saw her father die -- literally, right in front of her, while the two of them were rollerblading and he was hit by a car. The school board of my district announced the names of 17 schools that are being considered candidates for closing next year, and mine is one of them. I'm not terribly worried about this, but I am concerned. And as the school year begins, we're sitting on the cusp of a school year that promises to be nothing if not dramatic. The bigger picture? Schools closing, staff losing jobs or being reassigned, school boundaries being redefined, a great number of question marks hanging in the balance. Personally I'm getting back to a school where my responsibilities and largely my most direct colleagues will be changed, in addition to bits of personal unfinished business with a couple of individuals that have me curious how the beginning will play out.
It's not morose. But it does promise some interesting times ahead.
I'm not feeling self-indulgent or depressed or even morose today, but I feel a sense of the ominous. It's been an unusual week. A good friend of mine saw her husband die after a prolonged illness. Another friend of mine saw her father die -- literally, right in front of her, while the two of them were rollerblading and he was hit by a car. The school board of my district announced the names of 17 schools that are being considered candidates for closing next year, and mine is one of them. I'm not terribly worried about this, but I am concerned. And as the school year begins, we're sitting on the cusp of a school year that promises to be nothing if not dramatic. The bigger picture? Schools closing, staff losing jobs or being reassigned, school boundaries being redefined, a great number of question marks hanging in the balance. Personally I'm getting back to a school where my responsibilities and largely my most direct colleagues will be changed, in addition to bits of personal unfinished business with a couple of individuals that have me curious how the beginning will play out.
It's not morose. But it does promise some interesting times ahead.
Friday, August 21, 2009
A Night at the Orpheum
Tonight is Progressive Nation 2009, which is a summer music tour festival, kind of like a Warped Tour for music nerds. Obviously that is a category I'm in. The bands playing tonight: Scale the Summit, which is a cool instrumental band I downloaded since I knew I'd be seeing them at this show; Bigelf, which I know next to nothing about and might not even see depending on what time we arrive; Zappa plays Zappa, which is Dweezil Zappa and his band playing the music of his father, the late Frank Zappa; and the headline act, the mighty Dream Theater. If you follow this blog with any semi-regularity, you've read about them before.
Tonight will push Dream Theater into the Number 2 spot for acts I've seen the most times live, surpassed only by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. This makes perfect sense since I would list my top 3 musical acts, to anyone wondering, as Bruce Springsteen, Queen, and Dream Theater in a three-way tie. The three bands are so dissimilar there is no way to choose one over another because they are all so important to me in different ways.
My first DT show was the Metropolis 2000 tour. They had just released what I still consider their best album, "Scenes From a Memory," which is a concept album that tells a story of a love triangle, and double murder, and reincarnation. They played the entire album in order, note for note. And this is a pretty complex album, so to witness that happening really was something.
The second time I saw them was on the "Train of Thought" tour when they were an opening act for Yes at the Target Center. They still played about an hour and did a fully-produced show instead of the usual opening act, crammed on the front of the stage with horrible sound mixing crap. During one song, "The Spirit Carries On," I was singing along and wearing my bright gold Vikings sweatshirt, so the singer, James LaBrie, saw me out in the crowd and pointed at me for a few seconds. It was pretty cool.
The third show was their 20th anniversary tour, which went with the release of their album "Octavarium." We were on the main floor and could barely see the stage, but it was still great. It did convince us (us now being me, my sister, and Nephew #1) that balcony seats were going to be the wave of the future.
The fourth show was just two years ago, for the "Systematic Chaos" tour. There were two opening acts for this: Into Eternity, which my sister renamed "Into Frickin' Crap" because they were so bad, and Redemption, which turned out to be a pretty good band when I downloaded their album from iTunes the next day. DT put on a great show that night, probably the best I had seen them mostly because they had played a few favorite songs of mine I hadn't seen live before.
And tonight's show will make it No. 5. Looking forward to it.
*******************************
Days later....
Good show for #5. We got there late after having dinner downtown and missed Scale the Summit, but that's okay. They must have played for only about 25 minutes, because we only heard the last 3 or 4 songs from Bigelf. They were four really hairy-lookin' dudes dressed up in their best not-wanting-people-to-think-they-care-what-they-look-like 70s rock dirty clothes. The sound mix was horrible; the singer and the keyboards were way too loud. After they played, Zappa Plays Zappa turned out to be our most controversial band of the night since my sister and my future brother-in-law liked them a lot more than I did, with Nephew #1 kind of in the middle but I think leaning more in my direction. First of all, the band was without reproach. Insanely talented, incredibly tight band. And the music was interesting, if you're into the kind of meandering, structureless, nonsensical rock-jazz fusion laced with lyrical touches that exist only to be bizarre that from the sampling we heard seems to define Frank Zappa's legacy. Half an hour less would have been fine with me.
As for Dream Theater, I'll say only this: Their show had several musical moments that were so perfectly done that they were examples of when you're watching five people put all of this together right in front of you, and it gives you pause to consider just what is possible when the most gifted of us put themselves to the task.
Tonight will push Dream Theater into the Number 2 spot for acts I've seen the most times live, surpassed only by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. This makes perfect sense since I would list my top 3 musical acts, to anyone wondering, as Bruce Springsteen, Queen, and Dream Theater in a three-way tie. The three bands are so dissimilar there is no way to choose one over another because they are all so important to me in different ways.
My first DT show was the Metropolis 2000 tour. They had just released what I still consider their best album, "Scenes From a Memory," which is a concept album that tells a story of a love triangle, and double murder, and reincarnation. They played the entire album in order, note for note. And this is a pretty complex album, so to witness that happening really was something.
The second time I saw them was on the "Train of Thought" tour when they were an opening act for Yes at the Target Center. They still played about an hour and did a fully-produced show instead of the usual opening act, crammed on the front of the stage with horrible sound mixing crap. During one song, "The Spirit Carries On," I was singing along and wearing my bright gold Vikings sweatshirt, so the singer, James LaBrie, saw me out in the crowd and pointed at me for a few seconds. It was pretty cool.
The third show was their 20th anniversary tour, which went with the release of their album "Octavarium." We were on the main floor and could barely see the stage, but it was still great. It did convince us (us now being me, my sister, and Nephew #1) that balcony seats were going to be the wave of the future.
The fourth show was just two years ago, for the "Systematic Chaos" tour. There were two opening acts for this: Into Eternity, which my sister renamed "Into Frickin' Crap" because they were so bad, and Redemption, which turned out to be a pretty good band when I downloaded their album from iTunes the next day. DT put on a great show that night, probably the best I had seen them mostly because they had played a few favorite songs of mine I hadn't seen live before.
And tonight's show will make it No. 5. Looking forward to it.
*******************************
Days later....
Good show for #5. We got there late after having dinner downtown and missed Scale the Summit, but that's okay. They must have played for only about 25 minutes, because we only heard the last 3 or 4 songs from Bigelf. They were four really hairy-lookin' dudes dressed up in their best not-wanting-people-to-think-they-care-what-they-look-like 70s rock dirty clothes. The sound mix was horrible; the singer and the keyboards were way too loud. After they played, Zappa Plays Zappa turned out to be our most controversial band of the night since my sister and my future brother-in-law liked them a lot more than I did, with Nephew #1 kind of in the middle but I think leaning more in my direction. First of all, the band was without reproach. Insanely talented, incredibly tight band. And the music was interesting, if you're into the kind of meandering, structureless, nonsensical rock-jazz fusion laced with lyrical touches that exist only to be bizarre that from the sampling we heard seems to define Frank Zappa's legacy. Half an hour less would have been fine with me.
As for Dream Theater, I'll say only this: Their show had several musical moments that were so perfectly done that they were examples of when you're watching five people put all of this together right in front of you, and it gives you pause to consider just what is possible when the most gifted of us put themselves to the task.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Edit THIS
Nephew #1 and I are going to see "District 9" this afternoon because I really need a break from editing. I have to get it as perfect as I can before I send it to an agent. I thought about this a little, and one way I came up with to describe the process of proofreading a 32,000 word manuscript that you've already read through at least three times in the past two weeks is like this: Imagine you have a big date coming up with someone you really like, and you really want them to like you. Then someone says you have a gray hair somewhere on your body -- maybe your head, your arms, your ears, feet... use your imagination. It's a small hair and it would go unnoticed by just about everyone, but the person you're going out with is absolutely going to see it, and when they do they are going get up and walk out on you without a second thought.
This isn't revision I'm doing -- revision is changing ideas, changing tone, changing characters and storyline. That part is pretty much done. This is editing. Periods. Spelling. Grammar. Editing really sucks. And I'm royally tired of it. But I want that first date to go well, so....
I've started getting e-mails from my principal. Seventeen more days.
This isn't revision I'm doing -- revision is changing ideas, changing tone, changing characters and storyline. That part is pretty much done. This is editing. Periods. Spelling. Grammar. Editing really sucks. And I'm royally tired of it. But I want that first date to go well, so....
I've started getting e-mails from my principal. Seventeen more days.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Trying to Cut the Cord
I finished the manuscript. I thought it was good. I sent the file to a lot of people. They thought it was good. I had the other half of my co-dependent editing relationship pick through it. He thought it was good, and gave me suggestions on how to make it better. Nephew #1 read through it and found typos for me to fix. I read through the whole manuscript, making some of the changes and corrections that seemed like good ideas or were necessary. I've written a query letter that needs just a tiny bit more polish before its done. I have the first agency I'm going to try picked out. And yet I just printed out a copy of the manuscript so I can read the whole thing AGAIN, this time with a different spacing so it will look different enough for me to hopefully not be lulled into hurrying through. Because even after all of these filters I've put it through, I'm still not ready to send it. I want to know it's as perfect as it has to be for now. It will never be perfect; any time I look at something I've written I can always find different ways to phrase things that always seems better than what I had before.
If I can turn this loose by the end of the weekend, I'll be happy. And slightly nervous.
If I can turn this loose by the end of the weekend, I'll be happy. And slightly nervous.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
No Apologies
I have at least three people pretty directly involved in my life who are dealing with cancer right now, in one way or another. One person has someone in her family who just discovered they have the disease, another will almost certainly lose her husband this fall (I just learned this today), and one little nine-year-old is living on an undetermined amount of borrowed time.
I can relate to people who don't want to take up the fight so directly, because I didn't myself until I was forced to the front line. And maybe that's what it takes for people to start to understand how important it is to fight this off. Maybe you need cancer to knock you on your ass before you fully appreciate how awful it is. But now that I'm in that category and I know what it's like, I really don't think I'm ever going to apologize for encouraging and pushing people to get involved in the fight, even if it's something as painless as a small donation once a year. I can overlook ignorance and denial, since I lived with them myself for so long. But people who are informed, and makes the choice to stay on the sidelines? Seriously: What's the problem? Life or death. You gonna fight, or you gonna watch? This thing ain't gonna cure itself.
I can relate to people who don't want to take up the fight so directly, because I didn't myself until I was forced to the front line. And maybe that's what it takes for people to start to understand how important it is to fight this off. Maybe you need cancer to knock you on your ass before you fully appreciate how awful it is. But now that I'm in that category and I know what it's like, I really don't think I'm ever going to apologize for encouraging and pushing people to get involved in the fight, even if it's something as painless as a small donation once a year. I can overlook ignorance and denial, since I lived with them myself for so long. But people who are informed, and makes the choice to stay on the sidelines? Seriously: What's the problem? Life or death. You gonna fight, or you gonna watch? This thing ain't gonna cure itself.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A Point to Prove
Feelin' good today. Woo hoo! The storms that rolled through last night stayed far enough south to keep the worst of the ugly out of my neck of the woods. The morning after an experience like that always feels like a relief. I spent the day doing a lot of reading, writing, and relaxing. Pretty darn good day overall. Even as I look at the calendar and see that school officially begins for me in three more weeks, I don't see that as only having three weeks left, but still having three more weeks. Yes, people. The glass is half FULL today. I'll pause for a moment while some of you out there take a moment to collect yourselves......................
Anyway.
To temper such comfortable optimism, I went to the darkest corners of the iTunes vault for today's Album of the Day: "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica. This is the album with song titles like "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Fade to Black," "Trapped Under Ice," and "Creeping Death." Not exactly Katy Perry's neighborhood. But man, I'll tell ya - this album ROCKS. And really taking the time to listen to it closely brings to mind a point of musical debate I have loaded up for anyone who would dare to challenge it: Heavy Metal is undeniably a better quality of music than country. Notice I said quality there. I'm not stating an opinion here; there are lots of people out there that love their country music, and I have no problem with that. I even see the appeal, and a lot of the stuff in my library could be considered country rock, alt country, and, in some stretches, perhaps even crossover. But metal is a better quality. All metal? Heck no. I spent about twenty minutes watching performances from the Download Festival over in England this weekend, long enough to see Slipknot and Korn perform. I like some songs by Korn, but I have no problem with saying Slipknot sounds like an industrial accident in progress, and I'm sure they're proud of it. On the other side of the argument, I'm sure there are country acts that so deeply revel in their hillbilly redneck pride that they might brew up their own moonshine just for the principle of it. My point is that if you took the best examples of country music and compared them to the best examples of metal, country would lose out. I offer up two reasons for this opinion: Songwriting, and musical virtuosity.
Yeah, I know. Country prides itself on the songwriting thing. And yeah, at it's best it has some great songs, but I think the genre itself places limitations on the content of the songs themselves that metal doesn't need to abide by. Are there a lot of country concept albums out there? I'm not aware of them if there are. Country follows the same rules pop does: write songs folks'll like and hum and dance and drink and party along with when they hear them. Metal? No. Let's look at one of my favorite bands here to illustrate this point: Iron Maiden. I have 142 Maiden songs on the iPod, and the subjects of these songs? Executions during the Spanish Inquisition. The European decimation of Native American nations. Greek Mythology. The threat of nuclear winter. Alexander the Great. The sacrifices of World War I. More literary references than I'm probably aware of. I could go on but I'm probably boring you already.
Okay, point two: Virtuosity. Yes, I fully acknowledge that there are some ridiculously talented musicians playing country music. But again, looking at the top acts in each genre, the percentage of metal acts that are based around musical virtuosity is so much higher. How many musicians in country music are name musicians known for their playing alone, much less their songs? The game is called Guitar Hero, not Steel Guitar Hero. Angus Young? Eddie Van Halen? Steve Vai? Joe Satriani? Every member of a hundred different bands that most people don't know?
No contest.
Anyway.
To temper such comfortable optimism, I went to the darkest corners of the iTunes vault for today's Album of the Day: "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica. This is the album with song titles like "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Fade to Black," "Trapped Under Ice," and "Creeping Death." Not exactly Katy Perry's neighborhood. But man, I'll tell ya - this album ROCKS. And really taking the time to listen to it closely brings to mind a point of musical debate I have loaded up for anyone who would dare to challenge it: Heavy Metal is undeniably a better quality of music than country. Notice I said quality there. I'm not stating an opinion here; there are lots of people out there that love their country music, and I have no problem with that. I even see the appeal, and a lot of the stuff in my library could be considered country rock, alt country, and, in some stretches, perhaps even crossover. But metal is a better quality. All metal? Heck no. I spent about twenty minutes watching performances from the Download Festival over in England this weekend, long enough to see Slipknot and Korn perform. I like some songs by Korn, but I have no problem with saying Slipknot sounds like an industrial accident in progress, and I'm sure they're proud of it. On the other side of the argument, I'm sure there are country acts that so deeply revel in their hillbilly redneck pride that they might brew up their own moonshine just for the principle of it. My point is that if you took the best examples of country music and compared them to the best examples of metal, country would lose out. I offer up two reasons for this opinion: Songwriting, and musical virtuosity.
Yeah, I know. Country prides itself on the songwriting thing. And yeah, at it's best it has some great songs, but I think the genre itself places limitations on the content of the songs themselves that metal doesn't need to abide by. Are there a lot of country concept albums out there? I'm not aware of them if there are. Country follows the same rules pop does: write songs folks'll like and hum and dance and drink and party along with when they hear them. Metal? No. Let's look at one of my favorite bands here to illustrate this point: Iron Maiden. I have 142 Maiden songs on the iPod, and the subjects of these songs? Executions during the Spanish Inquisition. The European decimation of Native American nations. Greek Mythology. The threat of nuclear winter. Alexander the Great. The sacrifices of World War I. More literary references than I'm probably aware of. I could go on but I'm probably boring you already.
Okay, point two: Virtuosity. Yes, I fully acknowledge that there are some ridiculously talented musicians playing country music. But again, looking at the top acts in each genre, the percentage of metal acts that are based around musical virtuosity is so much higher. How many musicians in country music are name musicians known for their playing alone, much less their songs? The game is called Guitar Hero, not Steel Guitar Hero. Angus Young? Eddie Van Halen? Steve Vai? Joe Satriani? Every member of a hundred different bands that most people don't know?
No contest.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Rain Keeps Fallin', Rain Keeps Fallin' Down
I'm feeling a little down today. It's been a stressful week compared to most of the summer, but that's to be expected when you go from doing next to nothing to having actual sustained responsibilities overnight. But that has nothing to do with feeling kind of down.
I saw on Yahoo News mid-afternoon that John Hughes had died. If you were an 80s teenager, you don't need to be told who he was. If you weren't, you still might not need to be told. But in case his name doesn't ring a bell, maybe some of these names will: "Sixteen Candles." "The Breakfast Club." "Pretty in Pink." "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." "Some Kind of Wonderful." Not to mention "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," "She's Having a Baby," "Uncle Buck," "The Great Outdoors," "Weird Science" (not his greatest moment), "Mr. Mom," and of course two perennial holiday movies, "Home Alone" and "Christmas Vacation."
I like to think I'm a halfway decent writer, but I don't think there's any way to describe the kind of thumbprint that gets left on your life and your world view unless you had the shared experience of being in high school the year "The Breakfast Club" came out in theaters. This is a man who wrote one of the movie lines I quote the most frequently. Whenever one of my students will say something about their church, I'll reply, "You own a church?!"
Thanks for the formative years and 10,001 quotable lines, Mr. Hughes. You'll be missed.
I saw on Yahoo News mid-afternoon that John Hughes had died. If you were an 80s teenager, you don't need to be told who he was. If you weren't, you still might not need to be told. But in case his name doesn't ring a bell, maybe some of these names will: "Sixteen Candles." "The Breakfast Club." "Pretty in Pink." "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." "Some Kind of Wonderful." Not to mention "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," "She's Having a Baby," "Uncle Buck," "The Great Outdoors," "Weird Science" (not his greatest moment), "Mr. Mom," and of course two perennial holiday movies, "Home Alone" and "Christmas Vacation."
I like to think I'm a halfway decent writer, but I don't think there's any way to describe the kind of thumbprint that gets left on your life and your world view unless you had the shared experience of being in high school the year "The Breakfast Club" came out in theaters. This is a man who wrote one of the movie lines I quote the most frequently. Whenever one of my students will say something about their church, I'll reply, "You own a church?!"
Thanks for the formative years and 10,001 quotable lines, Mr. Hughes. You'll be missed.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Cold Turkey
Why does the stylist ask "What do you think?" after you get the haircut? Do you really have the option of saying, "Wow. That was just way, way too short. Can you do something about it?"
I'm taking a short entry on here because I forgot to do an Album of the Day earlier, and I don't think I've done one here for awhile. Anyway. Today's album is "Carving Desert Canyons" by Scale the Summit. They're an instrumental band I found this summer when I learned they were going to be a replacement act for a different band on the Progressive Nation '09 Tour, which I'll be seeing later in the month. Think about them like they were a jazz combo playing complicated and demanding arrangements with a lot of jumping around time signature wise, except they're playing with their guitars really loud and crunchy and the drummer doesn't need to hold back so much.
I bought this as an iTunes download earlier in the summer and according to the play count column have only listened to it twice. This is indicative of a trend that has inspired me to give up on my music shopping for the rest of August, or perhaps even until the beginning of the school year. I think I'm going to be better off spending time getting to know the music I already have a little better than I would be by adding more. ALTHOUGH! If Dream Theater is selling any of their self-produced bootleg CDS at Progressive Nation, I am allowing for a loophole that would let me buy that since it would be a rare opportunity. I'm jus' sayin'.....
I'm taking a short entry on here because I forgot to do an Album of the Day earlier, and I don't think I've done one here for awhile. Anyway. Today's album is "Carving Desert Canyons" by Scale the Summit. They're an instrumental band I found this summer when I learned they were going to be a replacement act for a different band on the Progressive Nation '09 Tour, which I'll be seeing later in the month. Think about them like they were a jazz combo playing complicated and demanding arrangements with a lot of jumping around time signature wise, except they're playing with their guitars really loud and crunchy and the drummer doesn't need to hold back so much.
I bought this as an iTunes download earlier in the summer and according to the play count column have only listened to it twice. This is indicative of a trend that has inspired me to give up on my music shopping for the rest of August, or perhaps even until the beginning of the school year. I think I'm going to be better off spending time getting to know the music I already have a little better than I would be by adding more. ALTHOUGH! If Dream Theater is selling any of their self-produced bootleg CDS at Progressive Nation, I am allowing for a loophole that would let me buy that since it would be a rare opportunity. I'm jus' sayin'.....
A True Lazy Man
There are six more days until the end of the Lazy Man Triathalon. I must have mentioned this here at some point -- it's a summer workout program at the Y where you have to do all of the work involved in a normal triathalon (112 miles of biking, 26.2 miles of running/walking, and either 12.5 miles of rowing or 2.5 miles of swimming), but you have five weeks to get it all done. And yeah, five weeks seems like plenty of time. And yeah, it is if you really bust your rear to get done. As of today with those six days remaining, I've completed all of my walking and rowing and only have another 21.5 miles left to bike. I am confident I will finish.
But I'm not sure if I agree with the name. As a response, I have developed a separate set of criteria that could be used for a TRUE Lazy Man Triathalon.
(1) The biking would be replaced with a television marathon. I've had a few of these in my day, when I had new DVD sets I couldn't wait to watch and just burned through them one after another until I reached the point I was dreaming about the characters that night. For this marathon to be any measure of endurance though, challenge is necessary. So it can't be a show that it interesting or honestly entertaining or mentally engaging on any real level. Based on some of my closed-captioning experiences on the treadmills and bikes at the Y, I suggest that the marathoners are only given the choice between watching eight hours of either Fox News midday coverage or eight hours of "Full House." "What Not to Wear" on TLC would be an alternative.
(2) The swimming would be replaced with being up to your chin in junk food instead of water. You would have 24 hours to eat 2.5 large pizzas which had been delivered late and were already cooling off. No carbonated drinks would be allowed, because slamming down some Coke and letting go with a seismic burp could open up too much extra space in the stomach. An alternative to the pizza would be 2.5 bags of low-grade store-brand tortilla chips that taste a little stale but not stale enough to throw away just yet. There would also be either cheese dip, salsa, or guacamole to get through, and yes, you would have to use your finger to clean out the can or the jar to avoid disqualification. And no letting the dog finish it off for you.
(3) The running would be replaced, most naturally, by video games. Because you do have to make a character move around in most games, so this seems like a logical enough connection. It would have to be a mediocre and repetitive game that doesn't do a very good job of engaging the player. Buggy graphics, poor voice acting, no AI to speak of so there isn't any real challenge other than continuing to play. This stage of the triathalon would have to last a minimum of four hours, or however long it takes for the individual's body to begin permanently remolding whatever piece of furniture they've mounted for the duration. Game time would also need to be completed between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6 A.M., because, as any true gamer knows, those are prime hours. No limit on caffeine for this stage.
There you go. You have five weeks to finish.
But I'm not sure if I agree with the name. As a response, I have developed a separate set of criteria that could be used for a TRUE Lazy Man Triathalon.
(1) The biking would be replaced with a television marathon. I've had a few of these in my day, when I had new DVD sets I couldn't wait to watch and just burned through them one after another until I reached the point I was dreaming about the characters that night. For this marathon to be any measure of endurance though, challenge is necessary. So it can't be a show that it interesting or honestly entertaining or mentally engaging on any real level. Based on some of my closed-captioning experiences on the treadmills and bikes at the Y, I suggest that the marathoners are only given the choice between watching eight hours of either Fox News midday coverage or eight hours of "Full House." "What Not to Wear" on TLC would be an alternative.
(2) The swimming would be replaced with being up to your chin in junk food instead of water. You would have 24 hours to eat 2.5 large pizzas which had been delivered late and were already cooling off. No carbonated drinks would be allowed, because slamming down some Coke and letting go with a seismic burp could open up too much extra space in the stomach. An alternative to the pizza would be 2.5 bags of low-grade store-brand tortilla chips that taste a little stale but not stale enough to throw away just yet. There would also be either cheese dip, salsa, or guacamole to get through, and yes, you would have to use your finger to clean out the can or the jar to avoid disqualification. And no letting the dog finish it off for you.
(3) The running would be replaced, most naturally, by video games. Because you do have to make a character move around in most games, so this seems like a logical enough connection. It would have to be a mediocre and repetitive game that doesn't do a very good job of engaging the player. Buggy graphics, poor voice acting, no AI to speak of so there isn't any real challenge other than continuing to play. This stage of the triathalon would have to last a minimum of four hours, or however long it takes for the individual's body to begin permanently remolding whatever piece of furniture they've mounted for the duration. Game time would also need to be completed between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6 A.M., because, as any true gamer knows, those are prime hours. No limit on caffeine for this stage.
There you go. You have five weeks to finish.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
25 Years of Hope
The Relay for Life was last night. I had high hopes for it being a significant event, but it just wasn't. Not because of some emotional fire that went unlit or anything; we were rained out two hours after it started. Clouds were gathering during the whole opening ceremony, and by 9:00 the organizers announced that the storm contingency plan of moving everyone to the far end of the high school parking lot and into the Ice Arena was being put into effect. Given the choice between doing that and taking the chance of beating the storm home, most of our team went with option B. Kind of disappointing because the amount of rain that came made the luminary paper bag torches unusable before they were even lit, and because (for me) there were several people there for our team that I frankly don't get to see very often, and only saw for an abbreviated amount of time instead of the hours I was hoping for. So there were elements to it all that were disappointing.
But that isn't to say there weren't highlights. And most of them involved my nephews.
--Nephew #1 brought his two best friends along for the night, which is always fun. The two friends are both awesome kids, and it just makes me smile to think that Nephew #1 has these guys at his side while they navigate their high school years. Plus the three of them are entertaining to be around. One of our cousins brought her son along, another good kid a year older than my nephew. He fell in step with the other guys like they'd all grown up in the same neighborhood, which was great to see. Nobody wants to be the outsider. The group of them even got into a minor bidding war at the silent auction tent over a 25 lb. Pearson's Salted Nut Roll. And, unless I'm mistaken, because of the way so many people bugged out as the storm was coming, I think one of those four boys may have actually won all 53,800 calories of that thing.
--Nephew #2 is, in my opinion at least, the most sensitive of the three of them. He was pretty psyched for the relay, and the excitement was already cranking up pretty good back at Grandma and Grandpa's house before we all left because it was the first time the boys got to meet the new puppies. While #2 and #3 were playing with the puppies in the front yard, there was a moment when #2 just kind of bounced up to his feet and bounced up to my dad with a hug and an "I love you, Grandpa," out of nowhere. Followed with another quick bounce and an "I love you, Grandma" just to make sure she didn't think he was playing favorites. I know how much this meant to them. I love this kid just because he's the one who will do things like this without hesitation. When the relay started and he and I were walking to the track, we walked past my parents, already on the track and starting their first lap, holding hands and my mother's eyes full of tears, missing the hell out of her daughter and trying to understand how she could already be dead for five years.
"Grandma looks sad," #2 said.
"Yeah, she is," I told him. "She misses Dop."
"I do too," he said.
"Then go give Grandma a hug," I said. "She needs it right now."
I choked up while I said this because I just remembered saying the same thing five years earlier to #1 just before my sister's funeral was about to begin. So #2 takes off running to catch up like he's on a mission, and he caught up to them and gave her a hug, and she held on to him tight.
After #2 took off, Nephew #3 saw him running and asked where he was going, because those two have kind of a symbiotic monkey-see monkey-do relationship. When I told him, he took off right behind him to offer up his own hugs. Nephew #3 has been a rather spirited child for, well, his whole life, but during the past year he's been growing up a lot, and he's actually responsible for my favorite part of the whole relay event this year. I took in some early laps with #2 and #3. As we were looking for luminaries our family had made, we noticed that several of them had blown over in the wind that would be carrying in the storm later that evening. I stopped a couple of times to set them back up so the names were visible, and after seeing me do this #3 started running ahead a little whenever he saw one that needed fixing. I coached him on how to get the sand spread out on the bottom so it would be more stable, and after that he designated himself the Luminary Straightener. He probably reset at least 20 more by the time we finished the lap and met up with some people on our team. To see this little guy doing something like this, demonstrating how much he has grown past the selfishness that too often defines younger kids, just warmed my heart.
Overall the event was disappointing because I just didn't get enough time there to really feel like I had gotten in the emotion and reflection that the relay usually brings on. But it certainly had its moments.
But that isn't to say there weren't highlights. And most of them involved my nephews.
--Nephew #1 brought his two best friends along for the night, which is always fun. The two friends are both awesome kids, and it just makes me smile to think that Nephew #1 has these guys at his side while they navigate their high school years. Plus the three of them are entertaining to be around. One of our cousins brought her son along, another good kid a year older than my nephew. He fell in step with the other guys like they'd all grown up in the same neighborhood, which was great to see. Nobody wants to be the outsider. The group of them even got into a minor bidding war at the silent auction tent over a 25 lb. Pearson's Salted Nut Roll. And, unless I'm mistaken, because of the way so many people bugged out as the storm was coming, I think one of those four boys may have actually won all 53,800 calories of that thing.
--Nephew #2 is, in my opinion at least, the most sensitive of the three of them. He was pretty psyched for the relay, and the excitement was already cranking up pretty good back at Grandma and Grandpa's house before we all left because it was the first time the boys got to meet the new puppies. While #2 and #3 were playing with the puppies in the front yard, there was a moment when #2 just kind of bounced up to his feet and bounced up to my dad with a hug and an "I love you, Grandpa," out of nowhere. Followed with another quick bounce and an "I love you, Grandma" just to make sure she didn't think he was playing favorites. I know how much this meant to them. I love this kid just because he's the one who will do things like this without hesitation. When the relay started and he and I were walking to the track, we walked past my parents, already on the track and starting their first lap, holding hands and my mother's eyes full of tears, missing the hell out of her daughter and trying to understand how she could already be dead for five years.
"Grandma looks sad," #2 said.
"Yeah, she is," I told him. "She misses Dop."
"I do too," he said.
"Then go give Grandma a hug," I said. "She needs it right now."
I choked up while I said this because I just remembered saying the same thing five years earlier to #1 just before my sister's funeral was about to begin. So #2 takes off running to catch up like he's on a mission, and he caught up to them and gave her a hug, and she held on to him tight.
After #2 took off, Nephew #3 saw him running and asked where he was going, because those two have kind of a symbiotic monkey-see monkey-do relationship. When I told him, he took off right behind him to offer up his own hugs. Nephew #3 has been a rather spirited child for, well, his whole life, but during the past year he's been growing up a lot, and he's actually responsible for my favorite part of the whole relay event this year. I took in some early laps with #2 and #3. As we were looking for luminaries our family had made, we noticed that several of them had blown over in the wind that would be carrying in the storm later that evening. I stopped a couple of times to set them back up so the names were visible, and after seeing me do this #3 started running ahead a little whenever he saw one that needed fixing. I coached him on how to get the sand spread out on the bottom so it would be more stable, and after that he designated himself the Luminary Straightener. He probably reset at least 20 more by the time we finished the lap and met up with some people on our team. To see this little guy doing something like this, demonstrating how much he has grown past the selfishness that too often defines younger kids, just warmed my heart.
Overall the event was disappointing because I just didn't get enough time there to really feel like I had gotten in the emotion and reflection that the relay usually brings on. But it certainly had its moments.
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